Steve Pfarrer’s Best Bets

Pegging Todd Snider’s music isn’t easy, though you could probably call him part folk/country singer-songwriter, part stand-up comedian and poet. More simply, he’s a brilliant lyricist and performer, with a cache of shaggy dog stories and political songs that ask why our country’s such a mess. He plays the Iron Horse in Northampton Wednesday at 7 p.m. Texas singer-songwriter Amy Cook opens.

ANOTHER GOOD BET

Signature Sounds’ Parlor Room series continues tonight with Annie and the Beekeepers and their boot-stomping roots music, along with Amherst songwriter Zac Trojano, who’s also part of the local roots trio Rusty Belle. Joining Trojano is guitar maestro and record producer Dave Goodrich of Sunderland. In Northampton at 7 p.m.